New Delhi: The collection of Goods and Services Tax (GST) slipped marginally to Rs 86,318 crore in January, from Rs 86,703 crore in December.

"The total revenue received under GST for the month of January 2018 (received in January/February up to February 25, 2018) has been Rs 86,318 crores," the finance ministry said in a statement.

Total collections under the GST had registered an increase in December 2017 after declining in the two previous months of November and October following the decision of the GST Council to cut rates on more than 200 items.

Representational image. Reuters.

The ministry said that 1.03 crore taxpayers have been registered under GST till 25 February, of which 17.65 lakh are composition dealers who are required to file returns every quarter.

Of the total, 1.23 lakh composition dealers have opted out of scheme and have thus become regular taxpayers, it said, adding that "till February 25 there are 16.42 lakh composition dealers which are required to file returns every quarter and the rest of 87.03 lakh taxpayers are required to file monthly returns."

The ministry further said that as many as 57.78 lakh GSTR 3B returns have been filed for the month of January till February 25, 2018. This is 69 per cent of total taxpayers who are required to file monthly returns, it added.

Of the Rs 86,318 crore collected during the month, Rs 14,233 crore have been collected as CGST, Rs 19,961 crore as SGST, Rs 43,794 crore as IGST and Rs 8,331 as Compensation cess.

The ministry further said that Rs 11,327 crore is being transferred from IGST to CGST account, and Rs 13,479 crore to SGST account by way of settlement of funds on account of cross utilisation of IGST credit for payment of CGST and SGST respectively or due to inter State B2C transactions.

A total amount of Rs 24,806 crore is being transferred from IGST to CGST/SGST account by way of settlement. it added.

Expert speakAbhishek A Rastogi, Partner, Khaitan & Co

While the figures hover in this range, it is to be seen whether the rates are further trimmed down in March 10 meeting. Further, two beneficial provisions of import without payment of IGST in case of Advance Authorisation and of reverse charge from unregistered businesses end on March 31. It needs to be seen whether the balance of government further tilts towards business by extending the date. It should be noted that both these issues are before Courts for testing the water on Constitutional validity. Lastly, in case the refunds to exporters are expedited in March, the revenue collection figure may not look very promising.

Pratik Jain, Partner & Leader, Indirect Tax - PwC India

It was expected that Febuary 18 numbers (for month of January) would be better than this as GST was settling in and impact of opening credit was assumed to have been largely factored in previous months. With roll out of E way bills getting deferred to April 18 and a contuining shortfall in number of monthly returns getting submitted, we may see administrative tightening and more rigourous anti evasion measures in next few months. One can also expect a closer scrutiny of opening credit claimed by businesses.

Vishal Raheja, DGM GST, Taxmann

GST revenue collections for month of January 2018 were Rs.86,318 crores which is slightly less than December collections. But it is pertinent to note that only 69% taxpayers have file GSTR-3B for the month of January. However, a closer look at the numbers shows that north eastern states are far behind in compliances and Government should put sufficient efforts to encourage taxpayers in those States to file returns.

Abhishek Jain, Tax Partner, EY India

The GST collections for January are almost the same as that for December i.e. around 86,000 crores. The average GST revenue collections seem to have settled around 86,000 crores. However with e-way bill requirement coming into force w.e.f. April 1, the revenue collections may get a boost. Also about 30% taxpayers registered with GST are still not filing their returns and the Government must endeavour to make them file the returns, which may further enhance the overall GST revenue collections.